If you want to really quit smoking, you must first be clear that you are serious about it, and it is not just a passing fancy. In order to test your resolve to quit smoking you should form a small support group that will be there for you when you start to feel weak and find it difficult to stick to your decision. After all, it is not easy to break a habit. You need to be answerable to yourself and others to be able to battle with the so-called nicotine beast, other smokers and your subconscious. They can all be very persuasive threats on the road to quitting. That is why it is absolutely essential to have a solid support group of at least two or three other people. If you can have five, it is even better.
Here the numbers are important because it is that much more difficult to get past five persons to succumb to an overwhelming urge strikes than it is to convince just one person ” yourself.
So how do you hold yourself accountable to others?
Of course, you begin by being accountable to yourself first. For example, if you’ve been off cigarettes for a week and then the irresistible urge strikes you, and you make hundred and one excuses, you battle with guilt and frustration, and ultimately, you give in because the nicotine beast is very strong and you are only one person. This is the story of many people who break down at this point.
But what if you had five loyal soldiers standing between the nicotine demon and you? Ah, now that’s a completely new ball game.
The process
Set up a small support group for yourself whether it be via email, telephone, or a support forum. Tell these people your goal to quit smoking but also ask them not to pester you about it – just to be there when you need help and positive support. Use them for encouragement.
Now, with a support group in place, when you again encounter an overwhelming urge to smoke, you will have to get past not just your own guilty conscience, but you have to call these five people and tell them that you have decided to start smoking again.
And that’s all you get to say. No more. Then you just have to sit back and listen without getting angry or upset. If you can make it through all five members of your support team and you still think that their advice and support is misguided and your deep down beliefs that you should quit are suddenly wrong, then by all means have that ‘one’ cigarette. But I warn you now, don’t think that you’ll just have the one – you won’t. It’s always, always, always the first one that will get you.
The support system works so well only because of numbers; it is six times more difficult to convince six people (your support team plus you) against the ‘one’.
One last point, you must be well informed about the whole process before you try to quit smoking. The more you know about quitting, the more successful you will be.
Best of luck,
Darren Warmuth